


a night in a cupboard

by dmxlfoypotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 17:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16246376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dmxlfoypotter/pseuds/dmxlfoypotter
Summary: draco malfoy and harry potter somehow manage to end up hiding in the same cupboard past curfew. truths and secrets were revealed by the two boys, fueled by exhaustion. will the two do what everyone would expect them to do, or will they surprise everyone — including themselves?





	a night in a cupboard

**Author's Note:**

> hello, hello! 
> 
> it's been a while since i've updated my ao3, but if you're looking for some frequent drarry, i'm quite active on my [tumblr](https://dmxlfoypotter.tumblr.com). i post a lot of random headcanons and drarry snippets and reblog a bunch of posts that you otherwise wouldn't fine on ao3. anyway, this piece was inspired by a prompt that [a lovely hp blog on tumblr](https://distressedslytherin.tumblr.com) sent in to me many months ago.
> 
> i digress. this is a short, little drabble that i wrote. leave a kudos if you'd like, and i'm always looking for ways to make my writing better. so i'd appreciate any sort of constructive criticism in the comments. check out my [other writing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dmxlfoypotter/works) if you want, and if there's something you want to read but has not been written, then feel free to [send in a prompt](https://dmxlfoypotter.tumblr.com/ask).
> 
> please remember that this work is unbeta-ed, so while the characters do not belong to me, all of the mistakes or misconceptions in this piece do.
> 
> enjoy.

“hey, watch it!” potter furiously whispers to the boy stuffed inside the storage cupboard with him. perhaps harry’d be in a much nicer mood if the student pressing into his rib cage (merlin help them both) was someone other than draco malfoy, but alas, the world works in unfortunate ways.

“it’s not exactly easy to ‘watch it’ when you’re invisible. you could take that ridiculous thing off, you know. i doubt filch would bother checking this cramped space. hell, one of us can barely fit in here alone.”

harry wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry or do both from the irony of it all. harry happened to be experienced with small spaces, cupboards in particular. after all, he had to live in one for most of his influential years. the dursleys weren’t really the the most welcoming to harry potter, not at all.

harry heaved the invisibility cloak off and blanketed it around his legs. “we shouldn’t be here in for much longer. filch should be gone soon. then we make a run for it. or you make a run for it.” harry shrugged. “i have an invisibility cloak.”

“you could always share it,” draco muttered. he leaned back into the cupboard wall and let his eyes flutter shut. draco looked ages younger like this. tired. exhausted. like he hadn’t had rest in years. and perhaps he hadn’t.

“long night, huh. what were you even doing roaming the halls of hogwarts at this ungodly hour?” harry asked. “you have a secret lover?”

“ha, what a joke.” draco sat up now and turned towards harry. “hogwarts doesn’t really have a lot of guys lining up to date a malfoy. and if there were, i don’t know about them.” draco laughed sarcastically. “if you should know, potter, i sneak out at night to fly. the view of the night sky, the calamity of the earth, everything at rest — it grounds me. reminds me that i am nothing more than a speck in the infinite spectrum of the universe.”

“oh” was all harry could say. he’d expected some nefarious plot of doom, but instead, he found a boy with a passion. 

“how about you, potter?” said draco. “what’s your reason for wandering around at night?”

“don’t laugh,” harry warned. “but both of my parents went here, fell in love here. granted, they didn’t like each other right away, but they were still here. they spent their formative years here. and i don’t know, there’s something about walking in the same halls that they’ve been in. i don’t remember much about them, but like flying does for you, malfoy, walking the halls my parents were in, it reminds me who and what i am.”

draco was quiet. then he said “i’m not going to lie to you, potter, but this is nice — this night. and even if this goodwill between us goes to hell in the morning, i appreciate this conversation.”

harry looked at draco now. “and i think it’s only fair that i not lie to you as well. I truly hate this, everything about it.” and harry would be lying if he said he didn’t catch the absolute hurt that flashed across draco’s face. 

“fair enough,” draco mumbled sourly. “i suppose a conversation with a no-good malfoy is agonizing to saint potter. i digress. you are entitled to your own opinions and feelings.”

“it’s not because of you.” harry quickly said. “not at all. the conversation was lovely — _you_ are so terribly lovely.” harry waved his hand. “just let me explain.”

“then explain,” said draco. it might have been the low lighting or the fact that harry’s vision was awful, but harry could have sworn that there was a faint pink blush painting draco’s cheeks.

“you know that i lived with muggles — my aunt, uncle, and cousin — when i was younger. i had nowhere else to go, and the dursleys, they didn’t want me at all. they neglected me, made me live in a cupboard under the stairs. when they finally gave me a room, they barred the windows and locked the doors so that i’d miss the hogwarts express. ron had to steal a car, merlin, to save me.”

“they made you live in a _fucking cupboard_?” draco exclaimed incredulously. he quieted down when harry shot him a warning look. “potter…” harry could practically feel the anger radiating off of draco.

“it’s really okay, draco.” harry said. “i live with the weasleys now, and i couldn’t be happier. it’s in the past, and that’s that.”

“no it’s not!” draco exclaimed, filch be damned. “you are always so _okay_ with all of the bad things that happened, is happening in your life. it’s so _unfair_!”

the sound of approaching footsteps halted harry from replying to draco, who shot him a look of alarm and pure panic. harry quickly gestured for the blond-haired boy to scoot closer, then heaved the invisibility cloak over the both of them. 

“potter, will we be—”

harry elbowed malfoy’s side, eliciting a muffled _oof_ from him, and glanced toward the door. the worst thing than being caught in a cupboard was being caught in a cupboard _with_  a malfoy. not that harry minded.

harry held up a finger, meaning  _one second._ he squeezed his eyes shut and quickly muttered under his breath. 

“okay, we should be good now,” harry finally said after taking the time to bang on the wall _multiple_ times. “filch won’t be able to hear us, but it’d be best if we remained under the invisibility cloak just in case.”

“did you just cast, merlin above, a _wandless_ spell?” draco blurted out, impressed. “that’s amazing! not even a legal adult yet, and you can already go about the world without a wand.”

“trust me, draco, i can’t do much. maybe _accio_ a few things here or there. and what use will levitation do me?” harry was very much aware of how close he and draco were sitting, but neither made any action to move, and harry liked this, being this close to draco that he could feel draco’s breath on the side of his neck and that harry could see the small mole underneath draco’s ear. 

“but can you imagine? you’d be the best the aurors would have had in ages.”

“me, an auror?” harry laughed. “i suppose it’d be expected of me to uphold and maintain the wellbeing of the wizarding world — after voldemort’s gone, that is. everyone’s depending on me to save the day, but there’s a chance i can’t, and… i’m not sure.”

“well, what do you want to do, harry? other than what’s expected of you or what everyone is asking of you. you, what do you want?” 

“honestly, draco? i want a family. i want to move away from the city, establish a quaint cafe somewhere. peace and quiet, perhaps children one day. a wife, a husband — whichever, doesn’t really matter as long as it’s love.” harry let out a long breath. “how about you, draco?”

“that sounds absolutely lovely. how i yearn for a life like that. as for what i want, that’s irrelevant.” draco sighed, rolling his shirt sleeve up to the crease of his elbow. “perhaps, potter, this will speak for itself.” 

harry squinted against the low light, and there, on draco’s pale arm, was an unmistakable dark mark. “draco…”

“it’s too late now. i’m on the wrong side of the war, harry. there’s nothing i can do. naive as i am, i actually wanted to become a healer. crazy, isn’t it? now, how would you feel if a man taking care of you had this — this mark on his arm?”

“oh, draco. what have you done?” harry reached out, and traced draco’s dark mark gingerly. “what have you done?”

“i made a terrible mistake. my father, he said he’d be proud of me if i took the mark like he did — would have proven that i was a true malfoy. now all i am is some pawn, fighting for a cause that i don’t even believe in. harry, i don’t want to hurt people. you have to believe me. i didn’t know it’d get this far.”

“draco, we’ll fix this. i swear to you that i will fix this. i don’t know how or when but we’ll fix this.” harry said with determination shining in his eyes. “you’ll become a healer — the best healer the world has ever seen.”

“you think so?” 

“of course i do. you’re the smartest person i know, next to hermione. draco, first thing in the morning, you have to apologize to every person you’ve ever ridiculed, but for now,” harry held out a hand, “let’s go fly.” 

“but filch!” draco protested. “what if he catches us? what about our brooms?”

“we have this invisibility cloak, and if filch spots us, we’ll outrun filch for sure. and as long as we leave no evidence, how could we get in trouble? and brooms aren’t a problem. i keep mine in the lockers down in the gryffindor locker room, and if you don’t mind, we could share one.” harry stood up and offered a hand to draco. “now, what do you say?”

draco accepted harry’s hand, grasped it. “then let’s go fly, potter.”


End file.
